Stories about Caribbean from January, 2012
Cuba, Barbados: Power of the Hunger Strike
Uncommon Sense notes that Cuban dissident Jorge Cervantes has gone on a hunger strike after being arrested for putting up posters protesting the recent death of hunger striker and prisoner of conscience Wilman Villar Mendoza. Barbados Free Press, meanwhile, republishes a letter from a Cuban prisoner who has served his...
Puerto Rico: Vigilance over SOPA & PIPA
Dondequiera says of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA): “Mark my word, this issue is not dead. More like the living dead, a zombie issue, if you like. Many companies…believe that the only way to kill the intellectual property rights legislation is to...
Trinidad & Tobago: Sympathy for Manning
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog posts a round-up of stories about the former Prime Minister's stroke, while Guanaguanare wishes Mr. Manning “peace and love as [he] recover[s].”
Bermuda: Re-Registering to Vote
Respice Finem contends that the proposal for voter re-registration “seems a not very subtle attempt to take away the vote of working class people.”
Guyana: Kissoon Firing as “Rodney Redux”
“The government and its sycophantic outliers may argue from now until the cows come home that the days of Burnham are over, but this is essentially Walter Rodney redux…”: The Minority Report adds its voice to the outcry over the firing of Freddie Kissoon from the University of Guyana.
Cuba: “Bad” Reporting on Hunger Striker's Death
“Wilman Villlar was a political activist accused of murder, contempt and who knows what other charges. Now we can expect our press to report it, belatedly and badly”, says Bad Handwriting, while Havana Times links to that “belated and bad” reporting here and republishes a counter-argument here.
Haiti: Haitians at Tuskegee
The Haitian Blogger republishes a story about the Haitian Tuskegee airmen.
Haiti: More Cases of UN Sexual Assault
Following new allegations of sexual assault against minors by UN troops in Haiti, mediahacker notes that “the peacekeeping troops accused of sexually abusing the young man in Port Salut have been released from custody and the impunity…continues.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Manning Has Stroke
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog reports that the former Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, has suffered a stroke.
Jamaica: Bogle, Rastas & Dons
“It may be unseemly to some folks to see a commonality between Jamaica’s national hero Paul Bogle, the Rastafari and the dons who rule the island’s so called politically defined ‘garrison communities’”: Abeng News Magazine makes the link.
Guyana: “Controversial” Kissoon
Bloggers report on the recent firing of journalist and political science lecturer Freddie Kissoon from the University of Guyana.
Cuba: More on Wilman Villar Mendoza
Bloggers continue to share their thoughts on the death of Cuban dissident and hunger striker Wilman Villar Mendoza.
Cuba: “Intolerance for Dissent”
Cuban bloggers draw attention to Amnesty International's stand on the recent death of prisoner of conscience Wilman Villar Mendoza.
Haiti: Leadership Triangle
“There they were, at the official ceremony: the living, breathing banes of Haiti’s existence”: The Haitian Blogger republishes an article which suggests that Martelly, Clinton and Duvalier's “rubbing shoulders” at a recent event “offer[s] an insight into the prospects for Haiti’s reconstruction and, indeed, into the prospects for Haiti’s political...
Cuba: The Loss of a Decent Man
“We are 11 million common criminals, whose misdeeds range from buying milk on the black market to having a satellite dish”: Generation Y says that “now, with the death of Wilman Villar Mendoza, once again the old system of State insult repeats itself…[because] it would be very dangerous if people...
Barbados: Excuses for Crime?
Barbados Underground thinks that “it is time to see crime in a different light. It is not only the victim’s problem, it is society’s and it cannot be solved by giving ready made excuses to thieves and robbers.”
Cuba: Bloggers React to Death of Hunger Striker
It has been a sad day for the Cuban blogosphere, as netizens received news of the death of political prisoner Wilman Villar Mendoza, who has been on a hunger strike since last November.
Puerto Rico: Levels of Crime?
In response to an editorial suggesting that the citizenry “may have been complicit in the senseless murder of Karla Negrón, the latest victim of a stray bullet on New Year's Eve”, Dondequiera says: “It is pure hypocrisy for anyone to accuse Karla's murderer of breaking by the law by anyone...
Puerto Rico: Economic Reality
Gil the Jenius shares “a bitter pill of economic information”, asking: “How screwed are We? On a scale of 1 to 10, about a 9.5.”
Guyana: First Female Colonel
Repeating Islands notes that “in a history making moment, the promotion of Guyana’s first female Colonel was today announced. She is the region’s first serving female colonel.”
Cuba: Fatalities in Building Collapse
Fatalities and injuries as a result of a building collapse in “of the worst-maintained neighbourhoods in the Cuban capital” causes Generation Y to comment: “How many others in this capital run the same risk tomorrow? What urgent solution will be applied so that these tragedies won’t continue to be a...
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